Nowadays, you don’t go directly to see a doctor without first checking the website for a doctor’s office. Here, the patient has the opportunity to collect information about it and then make a decision. Therefore, a medical website should be professional, modern, reliable, and friendly to ensure the best possible first contact.
The first contact with the doctor’s office starts even earlier, with a simple Google search, in special research portals specializing in medical studies, or through recommendations and evaluations on websites. Therefore, it is important to consider this when creating your site.
Index
- Why create a site for a doctor’s office?
- The websites of medical offices: a beacon in the fog of Covid-19
- Creating a website for doctors: with which provider/system?
- What is the most important content on a doctor’s office website?
- Instructions for creating a medical practice site
Why create a site for a doctor’s office?
Even today, not all doctors have their websites. The reasons are many: the fear of presumably high costs or overexertion, as well as legal concerns, are the main reasons why many doctors decide not to create a website for their doctor’s office.
In principle, legal requirements – for example, compliance with the Italian law on the advertising of drugs or health technologies – are not that difficult for doctors to comply with on a website. In addition, the costs and effort required to build and manage the site for a doctor’s office are also affordable. So let’s see the advantages together.
Advantage: Fewer tasks are placed on the doctor’s office
A physician’s website can ease the workload of the entire practice. For example, basic information such as reception hours, home visits, or what to do during emergencies can be presented. Suppose this information is visible on the study site. In that case, physician assistants will have less work to do, as prospective patients can find the information easily on their own instead of having to phone.
Advantage: It is easier to make appointments
Nowadays, it is possible to make an appointment online without much effort. This can be done, for example, through external services or a simple integrated system directly on the doctor’s office website that allows electronic scheduling of appointments. Such a solution is convenient for patients and lightens the reception’s workload, which would otherwise be busy coordinating meetings for most of the working day.
Advantage: It makes life easier for patients
The very modern doctors’ websites even offer real-time information on how long the current waiting times are. In addition, some tools allow patients to request a prescription extension in digital format or view reports. While administratively complex, it also brings great long-term benefits to patients and the study team.
Advantage: the study is presented on the site
The personal relationship between doctor and patient is very important. To build trust online, you should display a photo of your team on the website. Information on the medical career path completes the profile.
Advantage: Services can be presented clearly
Patients go to a particular doctor not only because of acute ailments but also because of his special services. As a result, they can be innovative treatment methods and their prices.
Advantage: You can clarify how to reach the studio
Immediate traceability of contact details can be extremely practical for anyone needing medical advice. These are the telephone and fax numbers and the email and office addresses. Driving directions are also helpful, including information on nearby public transport and parking. Accessibility information can also be very useful.
Advantage: You differentiate yourself from the competition
The patient will feel well cared for if the practice is clean, modern, and invitingly designed. The same goes for the website. For example, displaying certificates, awards, and memberships to medical or scientific congresses online on the doctor’s office website convey respectability and competence. As a doctor, you can also set yourself apart from your competition by regularly posting articles on specialist topics on your website.
The websites of medical offices: a beacon in the fog of Covid-19
The Covid-19 emergency has not only shaken our private life. The world of work is also considerably conditioned by the rules on social distance, bans, layoffs, and the like. In principle, the situation has not worsened for medical practices because the current crisis means that many studies face even more patients than usual. However, regarding appointment management and overall workload, Covid-19 represents a huge obstacle for doctors and practice staff, difficult to overcome mentally and physically. A good medical website design can work wonders and relieve the whole team.
A doctor’s office website is also the perfect platform to present up-to-date information about Covid-19 and what measures are needed due to the virus when visiting the office. For example, if you change your opening hours during the pandemic, you can announce the new hours on your website. If you have never utilized such a system, now is the perfect time to move to an online solution for managing patient appointments. The more automated the tool, the greater the relief for the study team. After all, with your website, you can offer online reception hours.
I am creating a website for doctors: with which provider/system?
When creating a medical practice site, there are essentially four different options:
- Website creation kit
- Content Management System (CMS)
- Personalized programming
- Web design service
Website creation kit
This option does not require a developer or in-depth knowledge of HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. A simple doctor website can easily be created with an appropriate provider using a modular principle.
The doctor can choose the website’s design by selecting from the available layouts, adapting the pages, and inserting their contents.
Most offers include hosting, domain registration, and creating a professional email address. They also have search engine optimization and other tools to increase the website’s reputation, already integrated or optional functions.
Content Management System (CMS)
Content Management Systems (CMS) also offer ready-to-use templates with multiple customization options. In addition, most functions can be added via plug-ins, for which no special programming skills are required.
WordPress is among the most widely used content management systems. Creating a website with WordPress is easy, even without outside help. You can also take advantage of alternative methods, as you will find out in our CMS comparison article.
To learn a better understanding click here https://www.healthcaremarketingagency.net/
Take care of the site yourself
The most financially advantageous option is at the same time the most demanding, as it requires more in-depth computer knowledge. For example, if a doctor wants to create and program his practice’s website, he will have full control and be able to design it freely according to his ideas. However, it would help if you also managed hosting, domain, and SSL certificates.
Web design service
Program or have it programmed? Hiring an agency or freelancer for your practice website is the simplest and most expensive solution. Therefore, doctors should only consider this option if they have very high demands that are worth the additional expense.
Comparison of the options
Generally, a website builder kit or CMS is sufficient to create a medical website. However, if you have the time and programming experience, you can also design the website. Alternatively, if you don’t have the time but are willing to invest, you can hire a web design service.
Benefits Disadvantages Degree in the difficulty Price level
Website creation kit Fast and easy to implement, hosting and domain and SSL certificate included in the package, no programming knowledge required. The site is not very customizable, has little technical maintenance, and is easy/ medium.
Content Management System Often open-source, no great HTML or CSS knowledge is required; customization is possible even if limited You have to deal with hosting, domain, and SSL certificate, little customization medium / difficult low/medium.
Personalized programming No design costs, complete customization, you have the whole project in hand. You have to deal with hosting, domain, and SSL certificate. It requires good programming experience and a difficult base.
Web design service Fast implementation, usually with hosting, domain and SSL certificate, expert input, fully customizable relatively expensive, subsequent modifications only possible to a limited extent and for a fee facile alto
What is the most important content on a doctor’s office website?
A doctor’s website can be created quickly and easily if you consider the most important points in advance. The first planning phase should therefore include the site’s most important content. The following content should not be missing from a doctor’s office website:
- Homepage
- Reception hours
- Updates
- Booking visits
- Contacts
- Performance
- Presentation of the team
- Privacy Policy
Homepage
First impressions are important, and this also applies to an Internet presence. For each website, regardless of the sector of origin and the purpose for which it was created, everything that the user wants to find at a glance must be put on the homepage. For example, a doctor’s website’s mostly about office hours, phone numbers, and essential services.
Additional contact information, directions, and updates should be found as quickly as possible through the main navigation. In short: to create a doctor’s office website, it is best to think about how you want to design the homepage. Ideally, it should provide an overview of all important content on the site.
Reception hours
Office hours are often the main reason patients visit a doctor’s office website. They should already be on the homepage, but they can also have their menu item listed again in the contact area. Doctors’ websites also create a footer with their office hours so that you can find them at the end of each page on the site.
Updates
The “Updates” item can cover much more than new office hours or a change of staff. There are always new medical breakthroughs, and doctors constantly update their knowledge and participate in training courses, conferences, and seminars. You can leave information about it in the “Updates” category.
In this way, you convey to the patient the idea of being aware of the current state of medical research.
Appointments and more
If you create a website for your practice, you won’t have to waste too much time thinking about which interactive features to integrate. You can spare yourself a user-centered design instead of focusing on a human-centered design, which at best mainly deals with the appointment booking function.
These features differ in price and scope of services: while some only offer an appointment feature, others include a full service by automatically reminding patients of their appointments and managing results and prescriptions online.
Contacts
In step with the times, a medical practice must offer different contact possibilities on its website: telephone number, email, and possibly a contact form that helps organize requests in a thematic order.
This contact information is essential for a doctor’s office. Furthermore, the address and how to reach the studio cannot be missing. Adding a Google Maps map with the exact location is very simple. Visitors to the site will have to click on it and see how to get to the studio from their starting point.
Performance
Therefore, proposing a detailed breakdown of services and related prices would be advisable. You should also list all the additional services related to the presence of particular machinery with attached rates.
Presentation of the team
Trust is the most important link between doctor and patient. Under “Team” you can introduce all the members of the firm. Pictures say a thousand words, so photos need to be bright and give an impression of competence and friendliness. It is worth putting your trust in the hands of a professional photographer.
Privacy Policy
This applies to all websites that use a contact form or web analysis tool to evaluate the number of visits.
What guidelines apply to medical practice sites?
In addition to the classic information such as name, postal address, and email, doctors must also provide details relating to their profession. These include:
- Enrollment in the Order of Doctors, degree obtained, and, if applicable, medical specialization
- Country where medical training was completed.
It is extremely important to use the correct naming in all information. For example, not all medical practices are clinics.
What is prohibited on a doctor’s website?
Service descriptions should inform the patient objectively about the treatment. Additional legal requirements are:
- No advertising of any kind
- The texts on pathologies must be written fully.
- The site does not have to aim to increase its popularity.
- The site’s goal doesn’t have to be direct selling.
Tools such as a feedback system allow patients to evaluate and describe their experiences in the doctor’s office. The same goes for a guest book.
Instructions for creating a medical practice site
If you plan to create a website for your studio, we recommend that you follow our step-by-step instructions regardless of which of the four options you select.
First step: choosing the domain
There are two factors to consider when choosing the right domain: the search behavior of the data subjects and how the domain name affects the ranking in the search results.
A doctor’s website should explicitly communicate through the domain name what type of study it is and where it is located. An example: “www.example.com” satisfies the requirements of a good domain, but it will certainly already be occupied, “www.example.com“, however, could still be free. You can quickly check if a domain is still available with the Domain Check:
Second step: establish the design
What looks appropriate for a physician’s website depends on the particular specialty of the study. However, a clear layout is important regardless.
